The Australian politician locked in a bizarre war of words with Johnny Depp has boasted that he got into the Hollywood star's head like fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter.

Barnaby Joyce was hitting back after Depp quipped that the ruddy-faced deputy prime minister appeared to be "inbred with a tomato".

The exchange on Wednesday is the latest salvo in the dispute which began a year ago when Mr Joyce, who is also agriculture minister, threatened to have Depp's pet dogs, Boo and Pistol, put down.

The 52-year-old actor's wife Amber Heard pleaded guilty in a court last month to falsifying documents to conceal the pets when she arrived by private jet to join her husband on the set of the fifth film in the Pirates Of The Caribbean series.